Stories

WWF would like to congratulate the recipients of the 2017 Russell E. Train Fellowship. Funded by the Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program (EFN), Train Fellows pursue their graduate degrees in conservation-related fields anywhere in the world and then return to their home countries better equipped to take on global conservation challenges.

Among the measures included in the END Wildlife Trafficking Act are measures that will ensure federal agencies continue to use a coordinated, whole-of-government approach as they respond to the global poaching crisis and direct them to work with affected countries to improve their abilities to protect wildlife populations, disrupt wildlife trafficking networks and prosecute wildlife criminals.

Dams play a critical role in water resource management and electricity generation and, generally, they have a huge impact on freshwater biodiversity and sometimes on local communities. Surely it’s time for a consolidated research effort to provide big data on dams.

The giant panda has just been downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’ on the global list of species at risk of extinction, demonstrating how an integrated approach to conservation can help save our planet’s vanishing biodiversity.

This week, conservation takes center stage as 6,000 global experts dive deep into the issues that will define the physical future of our planet. And with the all the far-reaching impacts of these decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of our planet, it’s a gathering that cannot come soon enough.

To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we must shift our global energy supply from one that relies on dirty fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—to one that is supported by clean and sustainable sources. The good news is that this transition is already well underway, according to a new WWF report.

In herding communities in the Nepalese mountains, snow leopards were not considered beautiful creatures that needed protecting. To these communities, they were a direct threat that needed to be eliminated. Thankfully, after working together with conservationists and WWF-Nepal to find a solution to these problems, the communities have taken on ownership of the efforts to protect snow leopards.

Camera traps in China have captured images and video footage of giant pandas that are often difficult to see in the wild. The photographs and video are some of the most amazing images ever of pandas and other species in their remote habitat, which were caught on film as part of long-term wildlife monitoring projects set up in panda nature reserves by the Chinese government and WWF.

This World Elephant Day, it’s important to celebrate the positive momentum being taken to save this iconic species. Poaching trends in Africa are down from the peak of 2011, and governments, NGOs and individuals around the globe have made significant strides in 2016 to fight the ivory trade that fuels poaching.

Three years ago, researchers from WWF-Mongolia set up camera traps to photograph snow leopards in and around Khovd Aimag’s Jargalant Khairkhan Mountain, located in western Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, to determine the elusive cat’s population size and distribution.

Meeta is a young mother from India. Back-to-back pregnancies and heavy housework responsibilities took a toll on her health and wellbeing. Noting her declining health, a neighborhood social worker invited Meeta and her husband Ramkishore to participate in a CARE maternal health program that fostered open communication, education and access to family planning information.

Information is power— at least according to conventional wisdom. But what if we lack access to reliable and scientifically sound information? WWF and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) have teamed up to create river basin report cards—very simple documents that demystify complex scientific information about river systems and take into account what different people value in any given basin.

Participants of the weeklong workshop, which was hosted by WWF and the Natural Capital Project, learned how to map out Mozambique’s natural resources, why the resources are important, how to build them into decisions about infrastructure and development, and more.

Rohit Singh supports ranger and law enforcement work across countries that have wild tigers as part of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. He also serves as president of the Ranger Federation of Asia, an organization that supports those on the frontlines of conservation in Asia and connects them to the world ranger community at large.